Gvardiol and Guehi injuries compound City's 3-1 collapse at Nottingham Forest

Manchester City suffered a damaging double injury blow as they fell 3-1 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday, with Enzo Maresca confirming that defenders Josko Gvardiol and Marc Guehi both asked to be substituted at half-time due to physical problems.

Gvardiol was directly at fault for Forest’s opener, losing possession in his own half before the hosts capitalised. Guehi then failed to prevent Liam Delap from racing clear to score the second. Both were replaced at the interval by Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes, with Maresca later confirming the changes were enforced rather than tactical.

“Both asked for change,” the City manager said. “Injury for Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol had some issue during the week, so it was just because they had problems.”

Nunes himself was caught out for Forest’s third goal after the break, compounding a miserable afternoon for City’s defensive unit. The defeat means City have now conceded 17 goals in their last eight games, with their only clean sheet in that run coming in a 3-0 win at Anfield at the start of the same stretch.

Maresca was reluctant to single out individuals, instead pointing to a collective failure to compete physically against a Forest side energised under new manager Oliver Glasner. “Today I think it has been general,” he said. “It was not about one player — in the first half we lost almost all the duels and contact, and against this team that fight for relegation, if you don’t match these things you’re going to struggle.”

The back-to-back individual errors and the mounting injury concerns in defence will give Maresca plenty to address before City’s next fixture, with their defensive record now one of the most pressing problems at the club.